Welcome to the Whip's Weekly Outlook, your one-stop document to find out what's to come in the following weeks on the House Floor and in Committees, as well as a review of the last week in session. Please let us know what you think. NEXT WEEK ON THE FLOORThe House is scheduled to be in session next week from Monday, 5/2, to Thursday, 5/5. The House will meet on Monday at 2PM for legislative business. The first votes of the week will be on Monday at 6:30PM. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the House will meet at 10AM for Morning Hour and at 12PM for legislative business. On Thursday, the House will meet at 9AM for legislative business with last votes expected no later than 3PM. The House is scheduled to be in session for two weeks before going into a one week recess after votes on Friday, 5/13. On Monday, the House is expected to consider two bills under suspension of the Rules: - H.R. 1423 – To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 115 4th Avenue Southwest in Ardmore, Oklahoma, as the "Specialist Micheal E. Phillips Post Office" (Rep. Cole – Oversight and Government Reform)
- H.R. 362– To redesignate the Federal building and United States Courthouse located at 200 East Wall Street in Midland, Texas, as the "George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush United States Courthouse and George Mahon Federal Building" (Rep. Conaway – Transportation and Infrastructure)
On Tuesday and the balance of the week, the House is expected to consider: - H.R. 1213 – Repealing mandatory funding from the ACA to establish American Health Benefit Exchanges (Rep. Upton – Energy and Commerce)
- Committee Markup Information – The Energy and Commerce Committee marked up the bill on Tuesday, 4/5, and reported out the bill on a party line vote.
- The Rules Committee will meet on Monday, 5/2, at 5PM to grant a rule, which could limit the amendment process. Amendments are due to Rules by 10AM on Monday, 5/2.
- H.R. 1214 – Repealing mandatory funding for school-based health center construction (Rep. Burgess – Energy and Commerce)
- Committee Markup Information – The Energy and Commerce Committee marked up the bill on Tuesday, 4/5, and reported out the bill on a party line vote.
- The Rules Committee will meet on Monday, 5/2, at 5PM, to grant a rule, which may require that amendments be printed in the Congressional Recordprior to their consideration. In order to ensure that amendments are considered, all amendments should be submitted for printing in the Congressional Record on the legislative day of Monday, 5/2.
- H.R. 3 – No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act (Rep. Smith (NJ) – Judiciary, Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means)
- Committee Markup Information – The Judiciary Committee marked up the bill on Thursday, 3/3, and reported out the bill by a 23-14 vote.
- The Rules Committee will meet on Monday, 5/2, at 5PM, to grant a rule. Rules is expected to report a closed rule.
- Possible consideration of H.R. 1229 – Putting the Gulf of Mexico Back to Work Act (Rep. Hastings (WA) – Natural Resources)
- Committee Markup Information – The Natural Resources Committee marked up the bill on Wednesday, 4/13, and reported out the bill by a 27-16 vote.
- The Rules Committee will meet on Wednesday, 5/4, at 3PM to grant a rule, which could limit the amendment process. Amendments are due to Rules by 10AM on Tuesday, 5/3.
NEXT WEEK IN COMMITTEESAttorney General Eric Holder is scheduled to testify before the House Judiciary Committee at an oversight Hearing on the Department of Justice on Tuesday, 5/3. On Wednesday, 5/4, H.R. 1540 – To authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2012 for military activities of the Department of Defense and for military construction, to prescribe military personnel strengths for fiscal year 2012, and for other purposes will be marked up by the Subcommittee on Military Personnel at 10:30AM, the Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces at 10:30AM, the Subcommittee on Readiness at 12PM, the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities at 12PM, the Strategic Forces Subcommittee at 1:30PM, and the Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces at 3:30PM. On Wednesday, 5/4, at 10AM, the Science, Space and Technology Committee will be marking up H.R. 1425, Creating Jobs Through Small Business Innovation Act. On Thursday, 5/5, at 10AM, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will testify before the Education and Workforce Committee. A LOOK AHEADOn Tuesday, 4/5, the Energy and Commerce Committee marked up legislation to limit the HHS Secretary’s authority to fund state-based health insurance exchanges: H.R. 1343, H.R. 1217, H.R. 1216, H.R. 1215, H.R. 1214 and H.R. 1213. Please find information about the Committee markup, here. H.R. 1217 was passed on the Floor the last week the House was in session. As noted above, the House will consider H.R. 1213 and H.R. 1214 this week on the Floor. The subcommittee chairs of the Appropriations Committee have begun to issue guidance to Members about how they wish to receive programmatic requests for the FY12 subcommittee appropriations bills. Please find a letter from Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Norm Dicks regarding how to submit programmatic requests, here, which also includes links to the letters from each subcommittee chair regarding each of their deadlines and guidelines for requests. The House Judiciary Committee passed the House version of patent reform out of Committee by a 32-3 vote on Thursday, 4/14. Please find information on the Committee markup, here. While Floor action has not been announced on the following, keep in mind, the government may hit its borrowing limit in mid-May, which would require Congress to raise the debt limit. The PATRIOT Act also expires on 5/27. On Wednesday, 4/6, USTR Ron Kirk announced that Colombia had agreed to an “action plan” to protect workers’ rights to facilitate a Colombia Free Trade Agreement. Action on the Colombia FTA, as well as the Panama FTA and the South Korea FTA could take place this year. The Trade Adjustment Act (TAA) and Andean Trade Preferences Act (ATPA) have already expired on 2/13. RECAP OF THE LAST WEEK IN SESSIONBefore recess, during the week of 4/12 – 4/15, the House passed: - H.R. 1473– Making Appropriations for the Department of Defense and the Other Departments and Agencies of the Government for the Fiscal Year Ending September 30, 2011, and for Other Purposes (Rep. Rogers (KY) – Appropriations)
As allowed by the Rule for the FY11 CR, the House also passed:
- H.R. 1217 – To repeal the Prevention and Public Health Fund (Rep. Pitts – Energy and Commerce)
The House also passed two bills under suspension of the Rules: - H.R. 1308– To amend the Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission Act to extend the termination date for the Commission, and for other purposes (Rep. Gallegly – Oversight and Government Reform)
- S. 307– To designate the Federal building and United States courthouse located at 217 West King Street, Martinsburg, West Virginia, as the "W. Craig Broadwater Federal Building and United States Courthouse” (Sen. Rockefeller – Transportation and Infrastructure)
MESSAGING FROM THE WHIP’S OFFICEDebt LimitRepublicans intent on holding our economy hostage to a divisive agenda by threatening to default on our nation's debt are now trying to downplay the effects of failing to raise the debt limit. Even though countless economists and business leaders have warned that failing to raise the debt limit would send our economy into a tailspin, some in the GOP continue to play a game of chicken with the full faith and credit of the U.S. – despite the fact that their past policies played a large part in creating the debt and they share responsibility as the House majority for making sure we don’t default on our debts. President Bush raised the debt level 7 separate times in the last decade, with the total cost of two wars reaching $1.283 trillion and the cost of the Medicare Part D prescription drug program stretching to almost $400 billion. Republicans are playing political games and putting the economy at risk. Oil PricesOn 4/25, Speaker Boehner floated the idea of cutting subsidies to big oil companies—something Congressional Democrats and President Obama have long supported. In doing so, Boehner broke with years of Republican tradition, as his party has long resisted any attempts to reign in these subsidies—even amidst rising gas prices and skyrocketing oil company profits. While Speaker Boehner has tried to walk back his comments, Democrats are hopeful that Republicans will join with us to end tax breaks for big oil companies. Democrats will also continue to push for other ways to ease the pain at the pump and make the economy less vulnerable to oil price shocks including by promoting responsible drilling and compelling oil companies to produce oil with the drilling leases they already have. Tax ReformOn 4/15, Mr. Hoyer published an op-ed in The Huffington Post regarding tax reform. To read the op-ed, click here. Excerpt: “Tax reform can help us get out of debt, but only if we keep the tax code progressive and apply some of the savings we get from closing loopholes to paying down debt. At the same time, we must look for savings in every part of our budget. But one look at the Republican budget shows that by leaving deficit-reducing tax reform out of the equation, and focusing solely on draconian spending cuts, we would come up short. Rather than ideologically insisting that we can get out of debt only by cutting spending, or only by raising revenue, we need some measure of both. All Americans, even the most privileged, must share the burden.” – Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, 4/15 First Quarter 2011 GDP“While this marks the seventh straight quarter of economic growth, it is clear that more must be done to spur the economy and create jobs. To both keep the economy growing and speed up that growth, we cannot do anything that subjects the economy to unnecessary uncertainty. Yet Republicans continue to hold the economy hostage to their partisan and divisive agenda by threatening to default on our nations’ debts – despite the fact that much of the debt that’s been run up was as a result of their policies. I hope today’s news will prompt Republicans to stop putting our economy at risk. I also hope it will remind Republicans that we need to take action on job creation. It’s disappointing that after four months in the majority Republicans have failed to bring a single jobs bill to the Floor, despite their promises that it was their top priority.” – Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, 4/28 |
